Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) Stock Price Up 9% – Still a Buy?

Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORKA) traded up 9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $69.72 and last traded at $69.7890. 253,552 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 1,066,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ORKA. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Oruka Therapeutics from $47.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Oruka Therapeutics from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Guggenheim set a $200.00 price target on shares of Oruka Therapeutics and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wedbush set a $165.00 price objective on Oruka Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Oruka Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.30.

Oruka Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $63.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of -36.03 and a beta of -0.26.

Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.04. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oruka Therapeutics news, insider Joana Goncalves sold 7,641 shares of Oruka Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total value of $312,593.31. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 33,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,453.07. The trade was a 18.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Arjun Agarwal sold 10,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.07, for a total value of $607,830.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 16,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,102.42. The trade was a 38.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 174,055 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,083 in the last 90 days. 23.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oruka Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORKA. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Oruka Therapeutics by 47.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oruka Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Oruka Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Oruka Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in Oruka Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 56.44% of the company’s stock.

About Oruka Therapeutics

Oruka Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel peptide?based therapies for oncology. The company’s proprietary stapled peptide platform is designed to selectively disrupt intracellular protein–protein interactions that drive tumor growth and immune evasion. By combining the specificity of biologics with the cell?permeability of small molecules, Oruka aims to target cancer pathways that have been historically considered “undruggable.”

The company’s lead candidate, ONCT-01, is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials for patients with advanced solid tumors, assessing safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy.